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A Relaxing Trip to Celebrate

Sail Date:
April 2013

Destination:
Southern Caribbean

Embarkation:
Fort Lauderdale (Port Everglades)

Just returned from Southern Caribbean cruise on the Caribbean Princess. It was my husband, myself and our daughter who just graduated from college. We flew to FLL, spent a few days in the Keys, then boarded the ship. It was my 8th cruise, 4th on Princess. We had three of us for the first time in a balcony room on the Aloha deck. The bunk came out of the ceiling. It worked fine, but my DH and I spent the week in twins so the ladder could come down between us. Wasn't a problem though.
We arrived at 12:30 and literally walked on. Fastest embarkation ever. Our room was ready and we headed up to the Horizon grill for lunch. It was fine, but I am not a big buffet person. My DD and DH thought it fine. We ate second seating in the main dining room, loved the food and our table companions. The nice thing in the MDR, if you get something that you don't care for, get a different dish. I love the appetizers and tend to eat them more than entrees. We ate one night in More
Sabatini's -- which is awesome! The artichoke souffle with a fontina cheese sauce is my favorite item! The pasta was amazing as were the desserts.
On the ship we attended most of the shows. The two best were a comedian named Al Jamaal and a singer named Ricky Wilson, son of Jackie Wilson. We saw one movie, used the spa and gym, and read a lot on our balcony. The one thing we decided is that we wished for one more port day. There was a lot of sea time, but that is to be expected going from Florida to Aruba. And Aruba is worth it!
Loved our time on Princess Cay. My DH and DD went on the experienced snorkel trip and thought it was great. I lay in the sun and swam. There was also some snorkeling up on the far end of the beach. We went early and were on the last tender back. It was a great day. The BBQ was good as well.
In Curacao, it was particularly warm and windy, so we toured the city on our own with a walking tour I found online, went to the Synagogue and found it very interesting even though we aren't Jewish, and climbed around the fort. It got warm so we headed back to ship for pool time and dinner on the ship.
The next day was Aruba! We had pre-reserved a dive trip for our daughter and snorkel trip for us with JADS, a dive stop. They were fantastic. Picked us up at ship (go out to street corner on main drive), took us to their shop on Baby Beach, where my daughter did two dives -- a scooter dive with a mechanism that propels you and another a little further up the coast. She said it was amazing. My DH & I snorkeled at Baby Beach, sat on the beach and had lunch and enjoyed the spectacular setting. One of the employees took us to pick up our daughter and then back to ship. We got back on around 3:00. I would repeat in a heartbeat. JP, the owner of JADS, is a great diver and teacher.
We walked off with our own luggage at 7:15 and went straight out to a taxi. We were at FLL in by 8:25. Less

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A410: Fairly centrally located balcony on Port side. I felt Port was great for views. On Aloha deck. Closet big and storage sufficient and we had three of us using it. Used the Pullman bed for our 25 year old daughter and she thought it was fine. Bottom two beds had to be in twin configuration though to fit ladder. So my DH and I slept "Ricky and Lucy" style. Room was quiet, but wished the AC could go cooler at night.

Port and Shore Excursions

We had pre-reserved a dive trip for our daughter and snorkel trip for us with JADS, a dive stop. They were fantastic. Picked us up at ship (go out to street corner on main drive), took us to their shop on Baby Beach, where my daughter did two dives -- a scooter dive with a mechanism that propels you and another a little further up the coast. She said it was amazing. My DH & I snorkeled at Baby Beach, sat on the beach and had lunch and enjoyed the spectacular setting. One of the employees took us to pick up our daughter and then back to ship. We got back on around 3:00. I would repeat in a heartbeat. JP, the owner of JADS, is a great diver and teacher.

In Curacao, it was particularly warm and windy, so we toured the city on our own with a walking tour I found online, went to the Synagogue and found it very interesting even though we aren't Jewish, and climbed around the fort. It got warm so we headed back to ship for pool time and dinner on the ship.

Loved this port. Great water, great beach. My DH and DD went on the experienced snorkel trip and thought it was great. I lay in the sun and swam. There was also some snorkeling up on the far end of the beach. We went early and were on the last tender back. It was a great day. The BBQ was good as well.